The US must heed the ripple effect caused by its opposition to Taiwan's UN bid because it might cause anti-US sentiment and strengthen Taiwan's determination to pursue its goal, analysts attending a forum said yesterday.
A poll made public by Taiwan Thinktank yesterday showed that the popularity of the US in the eyes of Taiwanese had declined by 15 percent over the past year, dropping from 32 percent one year ago to 17 percent.
The poll, conducted between last Thursday and Sunday with 1,068 respondents, found that 38 percent said they had the best impression of the Japanese. Seventeen percent named Americans, 10 percent Koreans and 7 percent Chinese.
Nearly 29 percent said they did not know or declined to answer.
Compared with a poll conducted in August last year, 35 percent of respondents said they had the most favorable impression of the Japanese.
Thirty-two percent named Americans, nearly 11 percent Koreans and approximately 9 percent Chinese.
Soochow University political science professor Lo Chih-cheng (
Lo was referring to the comments made by Dennis Wilder, senior director for East Asian affairs at the National Security Council, who told reporters last Thursday that the nationhood of Taiwan was an undecided issue and that Taiwan was therefore not qualified to become a member of the international body.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Aug. 27 that the US government opposes Taiwan's plan for a referendum because Washington views such activity as a move toward a declaration of independence.
While more than 50 percent of People First Party (PFP) supporters said they had the best impression of Americans, Yan Jiann-fa (
While Singapore was the first to voice its opposition to Taiwan's UN bid, almost 77 percent of respondents said they disagreed with Singapore's statement.
Lin Cheng-yi (
Lin pointed out that respondents aged between 20 and 29 had the least favorable impression of China, followed by those aged between 50 and 59.
Describing Taiwan's referendum bid as a "two-level game," Soochow University political science professor Hsu Yung-ming (
Hsu said that he wondered whether the US was actually opposing the referendum because it knew its opposition to the poll would have the affect of stoking public support for it among the Taiwanese.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
A woman who allegedly spiked the food and drinks of an Australian man with rat poison, leaving him in intensive care, has been charged with attempted murder, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The woman, identified by her surname Yang (楊), is accused of repeatedly poisoning Alex Shorey over the course of several months last year to prevent the Australian man from leaving Taiwan, prosecutors said in a statement. Shorey was evacuated back to Australia on May 3 last year after being admitted to intensive care in Taiwan. According to prosecutors, Yang put bromadiolone, a rodenticide that prevents blood from
China is likely to focus on its economy over the next four years and not set a timetable for attempting to annex Taiwan, a researcher at Beijing’s Tsinghua University wrote in an article published in Foreign Affairs magazine on Friday. In the article titled “Why China isn’t scared of Trump: US-Chinese tensions may rise, but his isolationism will help Beijing,” Chinese international studies researcher Yan Xuetong (閻學通) wrote that the US and China are unlikely to go to war over Taiwan in the next four years under US president-elect Donald Trump. While economic and military tensions between the US and China would
RSS